A San Francisco federal judge extended a restraining order against ICE on Tuesday morning, preventing federal agents from interfering in 31-year-old Guillermo Medina Reyes’ immigration case.
That judge, U.S. District Court Judge Rita Lin, will decide on Thursday whether to allow a longer extension.
Reyes’ case has become a rallying point for immigrant activists across the Bay Area. Almost 100 people gathered early Tuesday morning outside the downtown San Francisco federal courthouse at 450 Golden Gate Ave. before his hearing, raising banners reading, “Protect our neighbors” and chanting slogans like, “From Palestine to Mexico, the border walls have got to go.”
“Guillermo brought us all together,” said Esperanza Cuatle from Pangea Legal Services. “We all share the same values. Our liberation is collective, or it won’t be liberation at all.”
Reyes came to the United States when he was 6. After being convicted of an attempted murder charge at 16, he spent 10 years in prison. When he was released on parole in 2021, he was transferred to ICE custody.
He lived in the Golden State Annex detention center in Bakersfield until 2023, when an immigration judge released him on bond after determining that he wasn’t a danger or flight risk.
Since then, he has organized for better conditions in California detention centers, and worked as a tattoo artist in San Jose, according to friends.
After being arrested on a new vandalism charge in May, which Reyes’ lawyers argue was a result of a mental health episode, ICE alerted his lawyers that they intended to detain him.
His attorney filed a habeas petition and, the night before Reyes’ immigration appointment on July 1, a judge granted him a temporary restraining order to keep ICE agents away.
More than 100 people rallied at his appointment that day to ensure agents complied with the ruling.
He wasn’t detained, and has stayed at home with an ankle monitor since.
At the Golden State Annex, Reyes co-organized labor and hunger strikes to improve conditions, and sued the private prison company GEO Group for retaliating against advocates.
“You could be placed in solitary confinement for speaking up,” recalled a friend of Reyes, another former inmate at Golden State Annex who attended the hearing and asked to remain anonymous.
That way, he said, “the facility could put fear into the rest of the detainee population.”
The friend said that he and Reyes have become closer since being released; both still advocate for improvements to detention centers. He called Reyes a “respectful, real caring person” who’s willing to put his neck on the line, despite the retaliation he’d already faced.
“He chose to continue to be vocal and active, which meant more risk to him,” said Deborah Lee, co-director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity, at the rally. She met Reyes through advocacy work, and has worked with him since his release to raise awareness of the conditions that immigrants face at ICE detention centers.
“If we can prevent ICE from detaining Guillermo, that sets an important precedent in our ability to keep anybody out of ICE detention,” Alex Mensing of the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice said.
Pamela T. Johann, the attorney representing ICE, argued at the hearing that Reyes was being targeted for his criminal record, fulfilling a campaign promise of President Donald Trump. Victoria Sun, Reyes’ lead counsel, declined to offer any specifics on the vandalism charges.
On Thursday, the judge will decide whether to dismiss the restraining order, a move that would allow ICE to put Reyes in detention, or she will begin the proceedings for Reyes to get a bond hearing, before an immigration judge.
If Reyes is offered a bond hearing, it will likely be at the immigration courthouse at 100 Montgomery St., where about 30 immigrants have been detained over the last month and protests against ICE have turned violent.
If Reyes isn’t granted a bond hearing this Thursday, lawyers worry that he’ll be re-detained by ICE. If that’s the case, he will make a third pilgrimage down to one of California’s detention centers, this time with federal agents at his side.
What is WRONG with people in the Bay Area?
This guy was convicted of attempted murderer, and his defense for a more recent criminal charge is that he is mentally ill. And you want to fight for him to stay?
What is WRONG with people? Some people really have morality completely backwards.
This is the hill “immigration activists” are going to die on? Fighting the deportation of a convicted attempted murderer who gets arrested again for new crimes? This is why we Democrats will continue to lose. Lay out the facts and >80% of Americans would be in favor of deportation for this guy. We’ve got hundreds rounded up whose only “crime” was working in the hot sun on a farm but you’ve got time to fight for this guy?
Thank you Mission Local for the accurate reporting. I’ve heard this story multiple times on NPR and they referred to him as “activist tattoo artist” conveniently leaving out the convicted violent felon part!!
I think folks are missing the point here. 99% of people really don’t want this guy here, right? I mean, dude is toxic. So why? *precedent*. The thing is, you pick the absolute worst human you can find, then prosecute him, and you’ll most likely win. Then, you can use THAT case to prosecute someone with a perfectly fine background. The reverse is also true, as they state in the article, that if they can get THIS GUY off, then that creates a precedent to use in court for the defense. Obviously, the alternative is often used, where they’ll find someone clean as possible and GET them arrested so they have to create a precedent. Look at Rosa Parks. She wasn’t the first person to refuse to sit in the back of the bus, she was chosen to make a precendent. Anyway, don’t get sucked into the “OH MY GOD SAN FRANCISCANS ARE CRAZY” garbage. It’s just how the law evolves. I’d probably vote to deport the guy too, but I also recognize there are long term consequences, which seem to be utterly ignored in the press and most certainly by the right wing.
He served his time. He was a teenager who made a mistake. How many teenagers make mistakes and then only the kids of color get locked up. I’m a social worker.I have seen the damage. Sure there are many other immigrants who have zero record also being detained and we must fight for them also–but if someone has served their time and then has mental health challenges–and needs treatment and not prison–then let them get treatment. Any child put into prison for 10 yrs will have mental health challenges. Sounds like he’s found a positive path forward and made one mistake. Let the courts determine their job–let ice stay the hell out of our humanity’s lives. this is america –or used to be
right wingers don’t care about that. It’s all about how they “feel” and initial reactions about *other* people. I’ve got a foster kid who’s been in this country for 5 years, was abused and abandoned, no paperwork at all. Immigration Lawyers have been working her case for years and now have a single document from a judge that basically says, “you probably shouldn’t deport her”. They could snatch her up and send her to Russia today and nobody could do anything about it. Republicans don’t care. They care about themselves and nobody else.